In this Patterson-Karp collaboration, a bungled assassination by a hit man known as the Ghost sends New York City’s Grand Central Station into such turmoil that art student Matthew Bannon is able to stumble onto a cache of diamonds and walk away with them. Then Bannon and his beautiful art professor girlfriend find themselves on the run from an assortment of killers in the employ of an international diamond syndicate. Sharing the narration, Jason Culp and Jeff Woodman ably complement one another. Culp’s youthful, upbeat delivery is well matched to chapters featuring Bannon’s first-person narration, while Woodman’s cooler rendition is perfect for third-person chapters. As the love-struck couple race across Europe, both narrators do justice to the thriller’s triple-time pacing while offering an assortment of accents, everything from a Nazi hit woman and growling Russians to an effete British art gallery owner. A Little, Brown hardcover. (Aug.)